Monthly Archives: April 2009

The idea of a networked, connected, location aware solider capable of providing a multitude of rolls depending on the situation has long been the dream of the US military. Newsweek is reporting that Apple’s iPod touch and iPhone might be making that dream a reality. The multifunctional nature of the device and the fact that it can network with other devices apparently make it a great platform for military use. Personally, I’m supremely impressed it’s rugged enough (with a case) for military use. A quick search on Craigslist or ebay will show you a number of people who clearly HAVEN’T found this to be the case. All in all, it’s a pretty interesting read and a good case study on the importance of multifunction devices that are locationaly aware.

We are waffling about the design of the front page of VerySpatial.com. We like the idea of having featured content, but right now we aren’t sure we are creating enough ‘feature’ content to warrant it. We want to make sure that the site is useful. On that note we are running a poll for the next couple of weeks asking whether we should stick with our new front page with the featured content panel and a few posts or go with a traditional blog front page featuring the most recent 10 posts.

The last poll came out with the majority of folks wanting to head to Where 2.0 with almost as many folks wishing they could go to the ESRI Dev Summit. Hopefully you had (will have) a chance to hit a conference this spring.

Around the U.S. there are lots of retail stores, community groups, and all kinds of organizations participating in the 39th Earth Day (April 22nd). Some stores are eve offering freebies and cool deals to help celebrate the event, and help you get a start on going green. Here are a couple of free offers I’ve found so far:

Disney Stores are offering an Earth Day promotion where each person who brings in 3 plastic bottles to any Disney Store location on Earth Day will receive a free gift.

Home Depot stores are giving away 1 million free Ecosmart CFL light bulbs, one per customer, staring on April 19th.

Just got this email from O’Reilly with great news for all you last-minute Where 2.0 attendees –

“To celebrate Earth Day’s 39 years of existence, we’re offering an
unprecedented 39% discount off any Where 2.0 Conference package. Use
discount code: whr09erd when registering, and make sure you sign up
between now and 11:59 pm PST April 22.”

So, if you were thinking about heading out to San Jose for Where 2.0, now’s the time to register at the conference website!

The contest opens on April 22nd and runs until June 8th. You’ll be able submit your green idea to the Green Effect website (the submission page isn’t live yet), and on July 7th, 10 finalists will be announced (Each of the finalists will get a Flip video camera!). The finalists will be judged again, and there will be online voting as well. The winners will be announced around July 21st.

So come on out there! Get your green thinking caps on and, if you’ve got an idea that can help your community become greener, write it up and submit it!

November 18th will be here before you know it, so now’s the time to start thinking ahead about hosting an event for GIS Day 2009. To help get you started, here is a short video from GISDayTV’s YouTube Channel on how you can participate: